Hello again. Sorry it’s been so long since I last posted…I’ve been abroad in Barcelona, Spain, and its been rather hectic…though amazing. Also, I apologize in advance if this post seems less eloquent than usual, it seems that the more Spanish I learn, the less English I retain…oh well, not a bad trade-off I suppose. At any rate, while I am here in Spain, the American advertainment campaigns have not ceased to exist; in fact, they are only getting better. The most notable campaign as of late is attributable to Burton, which designed a nice little web site and viral marketing concept. The concept revolves around the site (and corresponding slogan) “Sabotage Stupidity.”
Rather than paraphrase the entire campaign concept, I have posted a picture of Burton´s “mission statement” for this concept below (click on the picture to enlarge it so that it is actually legible).
As of the day that I write and post this (January 22, ‘08), there are no videos uploaded yet, and there is only one picture. This campaign began in early January, so it has been nearly a month. I will be interested to see whether or not people actually upload a lot of content. I love the idea of user generated content; it often works extremely well, adding credibility to the brand in the eyes of the consumer, as it is not a direct, brand-created advertising message…but this nature of content only works if it is executed well, and if enough interest is built up around the campaign concept. Sabotage Stupidity is certainly not lacking in creativity, so the interest should be there. Perhaps the monetary incentive (a $5,000 grand prize) isn’t high enough to warrant the inherent risk involved…or maybe the campaign just hasn’t been promoted enough in Burton stores or through traditional media. Whatever the cause, I hope that this gets worked out, because I am interested in seeing this campaign succeed.
This entire campaign concept obviously brings up some ethical/legal issues…it will also be interesting to see if there is any backlash from the four resorts that are to be “poached.”
Thanks to Marc van Wageningen over at Direct Daily for writing about this Here.
